Bright 2: Netflix has cancelled development of David Ayer, Will Smith sequel

Four years have passed since it was announced that director David Ayer and stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton were all returning for a sequel to Netflix’s fantasy/buddy cop mash-up film Bright… and given that all this time has gone by without Bright 2 getting off the ground, it’s no surprise to hear that the sequel has been cancelled. The cancellation of the project was confirmed by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, who also reported that National Geographic has delayed production on a project they were working on with Will Smith. While that was in response to the Oscar slap controversy, Netflix deciding not to make Bright 2 has nothing to do with what happened at the Oscars.

Directed by Ayer from a screenplay by Max Landis (which Netflix purchased for $3 million), Bright was set in an 

alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time. Ward, a human (Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.

Ayer, Evan Spiliotopoulos, and T.S. Nowlin worked on the screenplay. A couple years after the initial announcement, it was reported that Ayer wouldn’t be directing Bright 2, withThe Incredible Hulk‘s Louis Leterrier entering negotiations to take the helm. But now neither Ayer or Leterrier will be making it, because Bright 2 isn’t happening.

The Bright franchise did expand last year with the release of the anime Bright: Samurai Soul, which moved the orc and elf action to 1800s Japan.

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